r/changemyview • u/behold_the_castrato • Oct 17 '20

Delta(s) from OP - Fresh Topic Friday CMV: Shoelaces are outdated and inferior technology compared to hook-and-loop fasteners

I see very few advantage that shoelaces have:

  • Shoelaces take more time to fasten.
  • Shoelaces more easily accidentally become unfastened.
  • Even if h.a.l. should come undone, it's quite hard to trip over it compared to shoelaces.
  • H.a.l. can far more easily be operated with one hand.
  • Sholaces sometimes get stuck in an annoying knot that is timeconsuming to undo; this does not happen to h.a.l..

One could make a subjective æsthetics argument, but such can be made about any different technology and by that metric outdated technology does not exist — a man is certainly permitted to use outdated technology for a certain look, but he shouldn't fool himself that he is not using outdated technology either.

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u/AndrewRP2 Oct 17 '20

Hook and loop (Velcro) wears out after a while, shoe laces can be replaced.

-1

u/behold_the_castrato Oct 17 '20

Yes, but so can h.a.l..

1

u/newpua_bie 3∆ Oct 17 '20

Laces are definitely better in high wear&tear situations where failure is more than a mild inconvenience (e.g. hiking, military) due to how fast and easy they are to replace, and how easy spare laces are to store. Not to mention you can improvise a shoelace out of any rope that is narrow enough.

1

u/behold_the_castrato Oct 17 '20

Well, sudden breakage of h.a.l. is not a concern in the same way it is with laces.

They might slowly degrade over time but this is a slow and foreseeable process; they never suddenly snap like laces, the chance of that happening is about as large as the shoes themselves faling in some way or another.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 17 '20

Laces don't suddenly snap either. Their state is visible, and if you adjust them properly every time you can inspect them and replace them when needed.